The question of whether to switch from a PC to a Mac arises from time to time. I made the move to a Mac in 2007, but the decision would not be as easy today. My only experience with Microsoft software these days is at work, and that doesn’t make it straightforward to compare the Apple world with what a PC has to offer. Why is that?

On the Windows side of computing, there have been countless thousands of poor souls who have suffered countless hours trying to repair or recover from a virus infection on their computer. They are common, unfortunately, and can cause irreparable harm. From lost data to lost money, a virus can do much harm.

For Mac OS X, there have been no viruses to date, mostly because of the small user base and the relatively small installed user base. It should come as no surprise, then, when the anti-virus software maker Symantec Corporation warned that it is only a matter of time before a virus actually shows up on the platform. Their reasoning? Mac OS X is starting to make much bigger inroads with computer buyers, with the popularity of iPods, iTunes Music Store, and the Mac mini. In essence, they state that as the Mac OS X gets more popular, the malicious virus creators of the world will take notice and begin writing virus software designed to attack the Mac OS X operating system.